I’m writing this half asleep, 90 minutes before it’s scheduled to go out because I just got done moving into my new home.

Fun fact: in the last 15 years, I’ve moved 15 times.

That is not a flex but a cry for help … lol jk. I should probably bring that up in therapy.

Anyway, for somebody who’s moved so many times, you would think I love moving or, at the very least, that I’m good at it, but the truth is I hate it and suck at it.

I just have some rad people in my life that love me and are down to carry heavy shit in exchange for empty—but delicious—calories.

And as much as I love paying my friends for their help with tacos and margaritas, the next move will be handled by paid professionals because our backs are starting to get fragile, our pockets bigger, and driving a big ass U-haul around is terrifying.

I can’t believe they rent those things to anyone with a license.

I also can’t believe how one of the greatest creative minds in advertising history shared his creative process with the world, and we’re still looking for “creative hacks.”

But more on that later…

Without further ado,

TODAY’S MENU

• 💡 David Ogilvy’s creative process, in his own words

• 🧠 50 Things Worth Knowing

• ⛰️ Focusing on What Matters

• 🤗 Bukowski’s Advice to Creatives

— Santi

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The Creative Process of David Ogilvy

David Ogilvy, AKA The Father of Advertising, sold BILLIONS of dollars for some of the biggest brands in the world with his pen.

He was a business magnate, a marketing genius, and a darn good writer.

On April 19, 1955, Ogilvy wrote a letter to Mr. Ray Calt where he outlined the creative process that took him from dishwasher to business tycoon and legendary adman.

This is Ogilvy typing

Dear Mr. Calt:

On March 22nd you wrote to me asking for some notes on my work habits as a copywriter. They are appalling, as you are about to see:

1. I have never written an advertisement in the office. Too many interruptions. I do all my writing at home.

2. I spend a long time studying the precedents. I look at every advertisement which has appeared for competing products during the past 20 years.

3. I am helpless without research material—and the more “motivational” the better.

4. I write out a definition of the problem and a statement of the purpose which I wish the campaign to achieve. Then I go no further until the statement and its principles have been accepted by the client.

5. Before actually writing the copy, I write down every conceivable fact and selling idea. Then I get them organized and relate them to research and the copy platform.

6. Then I write the headline. As a matter of fact I try to write 20 alternative headlines for every advertisement. And I never select the final headline without asking the opinion of other people in the agency. In some cases I seek the help of the research department and get them to do a split-run on a battery of headlines.

7. At this point I can no longer postpone the actual copy. So I go home and sit down at my desk. I find myself entirely without ideas. I get bad-tempered. If my wife comes into the room I growl at her. (This has gotten worse since I gave up smoking.)

8. I am terrified of producing a lousy advertisement. This causes me to throw away the first 20 attempts.

9. If all else fails, I drink half a bottle of rum and play a Handel oratorio on the gramophone. This generally produces an uncontrollable gush of copy.

10. The next morning I get up early and edit the gush.

11. Then I take the train to New York and my secretary types a draft. (I cannot type, which is very inconvenient.)

12. I am a lousy copywriter, but I am a good editor. So I go to work editing my own draft. After four or five editings, it looks good enough to show to the client. If the client changes the copy, I get angry—because I took a lot of trouble writing it, and what I wrote I wrote on purpose.

Altogether it is a slow and laborious business. I understand that some copywriters have much greater facility.

Yours sincerely,

D.O.